LED junction temperature tester

ABSTRACT

An instrument measures the LED junction temperature directly by taking advantage of the linear relationship between the forward current driven through the LED, the forward drop of the LED, and the junction temperature to determine the LED junction temperature. Calibration is conducted by placing two LEDs from the same family in ambient temperature and passing a small test current through each of the LEDs to obtain the forward drop of the LED at ambient temperature. The LED under test is then placed in an environmentally-controlled chamber where the temperature is raised a known amount above ambient temperature. Known low and high voltage values are associated with the ambient temperature and the environmental chamber temperature, causing the LED under test becomes a calibrated thermometer that can measure its own junction temperature due to the linear relationship between the forward drop and the junction temperature.

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional application of U.S. Ser. No. 10/337,246, which was filed on Jan. 6, 2003, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/345,241, filed Jan. 4, 2002.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

High intensity LEDs are becoming more popular as light sources for traffic lights, automobile interior and exterior lighting, signboards, and other applications. The light output of a silicon LED chip is not only a function of the chip size and the process, but also a function of the junction temperature of the LED. By keeping the junction temperature low, LEDs can be driven with twice or three times as much current and, thus, generate twice or three times the light output while still extending the life of the LEDs. Currently, however, there is no instrument that can drive a LED at a given current and measure the corresponding junction temperature rise at the same time.

There is a desire for an instrument that can measure a relationship between LED junction temperature and drive current.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to an instrument that can measure the LED junction temperature directly. With a simple calibration procedure for each family of LEDs, this instrument can read the temperature rise above the ambient in ° C. directly. The invention takes advantage of the linear relationship between the forward current driven through the LED, the forward drop of the LED, and the junction temperature to determine the LED junction temperature. When the junction temperature increases, the forward drop will decrease at a constant rate.

Calibration is conducted by placing two LEDs, a test LED and a reference LED from the same family in ambient temperature and passing a small test current through each of the LEDs. The test LED is then placed in an environmentally-controlled chamber where the temperature is raised a known amount above ambient temperature. Once the junction temperature of the LED is the same as the temperature in the environmental chamber, a gain potentiometer is adjusted so the digital voltmeter reads a known value and a potentiometer is locked, causing the LED under test becomes a calibrated thermometer that can measure its own junction temperature.

The measured forward drop of the LED at any given temperature minus the forward drop of this LED at ambient temperature (which is stored in the reference LED and the zero potentiometer) with an inverting amplifier stage will therefore provide a direct reading of the junction temperature rise. Since the test LED has already been calibrated in the environmental chamber, the digital voltmeter will read the junction temperature rise in ° C. directly.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a junction temperature measurement instrument according to one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2A is a schematic of a timing circuit according to one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2B is a timing diagram illustrating a relationship between signals in the timing circuit of FIG. 2A;

FIG. 2C is a timing diagram illustrating a relationship between additional signals in the timing circuit of FIG. 2A;

FIG. 3 illustrates a constant current source used in one embodiment of the inventive instrument;

FIG. 4 illustrates an adjustable current source used in one embodiment of the inventive instrument; and

FIG. 5 illustrates a signal processing stage used in one embodiment of the inventive instrument.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Generally, an LED junction temperature testing instrument according to the invention can read the temperature rise above the ambient in degrees C. directly with a simple calibration procedure for a given LED family. In one embodiment, the forward drop of the LEDs can also be measured so that the calculation of the thermal resistance in ° C./watt can be done easily.

The forward drop of LED (light emitting diode) is function of the forward current as well as the junction temperature. When the drive current increases, the forward drop will also go up. When the junction temperature increases, the forward drop decreases at a constant rate. As is known in the art, the relationship between the temperature and forward drop in LEDs is linear over the operating temperature range. To measure the junction temperature of the LED, the drive current used should be small enough to minimize any self-heating effects in the LED.

To start the calibration process, the instrument drives a test LED and a reference LED from the same family and at the same ambient temperature with the same current. Both LEDs should have approximately the same forward drop when they are in the same ambient temperature and have the same current flow through them. Any differences in the forward drops of the LEDs can be adjusted by using a zero potentiometer. This step basically stores the forward drop of the test LED in the reference LED forward drop and the zero potentiometer.

The test LED is then placed into an environmentally-controlled chamber having an adjustable temperature. The temperature in the chamber is then raised a known value (e.g., 50° C.) above the ambient temperature. Once the junction temperature of the test LED is the same as the temperature in the environmental chamber, a gain potentiometer is adjusted and locked so that the higher temperature corresponds with a known voltage. Because the low (ambient) junction temperature and the high (environmental chamber) junction temperature are known and because the low and high temperatures are tied to known low and high voltages, the linear characteristics of the LED's forward drop with respect to junction temperature allows the LED under test to act as a calibrated thermometer that can measure its own junction temperature.

A built-in timing circuit in the instrument directs the current flow through the LED under test. In one embodiment, during one cycle (0.1 second) a large preset drive current is flowing through the LED to heat it up 99% of the time, while there is a constant current of, for example, 100 uA flowing through the LED only 1% of the time during which the LED forward drop is measured.

The measured forward drop is stored in an analog memory so that information is available for the remainder of the cycle. This signal minus the forward drop of this LED at ambient temperature, which is stored in the reference LED and the zero potentiometer, with an inverting amplifier stage will give a direct reading of the junction temperature rise. Because the LED has already been calibrated in the environmental chamber, the digital voltmeter will indicate the junction temperature rise in ° C. directly.

The inventive instrument will be described in more detail below with reference to the Figures. Note that the specific values shown in the example below are for purposes of illustration only and are not meant to be limiting in any way. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the instrument according to one embodiment of the invention. Block 300 is a constant current source (100 uA in this example). Block 400 is a dual range adjustable current source. This adjustable current source is used to supply the drive current of the LED. This current source is connected in series with a 1-ohm power resistor so digital voltmeter DVM1 can read the drive current.

Currents from the constant current source 300 and the adjustable current source 400 are added together using diodes D1 and D2. A N-channel MOSFET is connected between the anode of D2 and ground. This MOSFET is used to bypass or shunt the adjustable current to ground when its gate is high (12 V). When the calibrate/run switch in the timing circuit block 200 is in calibrate position, both the sample-and-hold signal and the drive signal to the gate of the MOSFET are high. The adjustable current will flow through the 1-ohm resistor and the MOSFET to ground.

Diode D2 is reverse biased, causing the test LED to have only 100 uA flowing through it. At the same time, the sample-and-hold signal is also high; thus, the circuit in block 500 will constantly monitor the forward drop of the LED under test by measuring its forward drop at 100 uA.

When the calibrate/run switch is switched to the “run” position, the drive signal will be “off” for 99% of the time and “on” for 1% of the time, as noted above. When the MOSFET gate is “off”, the drain source junction is open and the adjustable current source add to the 100 uA current source will flow through the LED under test. This will drive the LED to a selected brightness and heat the LED junction at the same time. When the gate of the MOSFET is high, the drain source junction will be a short circuit and only the 100 uA current will flow through the LED under test.

At approximately the same time, the sample-and-hold signal goes high and starts the sampling process in block 500. When the sample-and-hold signal and the drive signal to the MOSFET both become low, the hold circuit remembers the forward drop of the LED at 100 uA and ignores the forward drop of the LED under large current. By using a reference LED from the same family as the LED under test with a 100 uA drive current, most of the forward drop at ambient temperature will be cancelled out. The potentiometer zeroes out any voltage differences between the reference LED and the test LED, making the net voltage change read at DVM2 from the post amplifier in block 500 directly proportional to the temperature rise of the test LED junction above ambient temperature. A digital voltmeter DVM3 is placed directly across the test LED to measure the forward drop at that particular drive current.

FIG. 2A is the timing circuit. This part gets its input from a calibrate/run switch, which dictates whether the instrument is in a calibration mode or a run mode. The oscillator 210 in this embodiment comprises a Schmidt trigger NAND gate and a 10 K resistor and a 0.1 uF capacitor. With these values, the frequency of oscillation is approximately 1000 Hz. The switch block 220 in this embodiment comprises a single pole double throw switch, a 2.2 K resistor in series with a LED, and a 10 K pull down resistor. This switch block will control the mode the tester is in. When the switch is at calibrate position, the output to the CD4093 input would be 0. And, when the switch is in run position, the LED will turn on and the output to the CD4093 in block 240 will be 1. The divider stage 230 takes in the 1000 Hz oscillating frequency of 1000 Hz, divides it by 10 in the first decade counter CD4017 and divides it again by 10 in the second decade counter CD4017. By ANDing the two outputs from each of the divider stages the output will be a 1% duty cycle pulse; in other words, out of every 100 ms period there is a 1 ms pulse.

When the switch block 220 is open (Calibrate position) the output to block 240 will be “0” (0 volt) and the output from block 240 to block 250 will be “1” (12 volt) all the time. When the switch in block 220 is closed, the output from block 220 will be “1” and the LED will be turned on. The output of block 240 will be a pulse train that has a duty cycle of 1%. This means the output will be “0” (0 volt) 99% of the time and “1” (12 volt) for 1% of the time. This pulse train goes to block 250 into a 2 K-resistor and 0.1 uF capacitor (an RC circuit) in one branch and straight through, without encountering any circuit components, in a second branch. The RC circuit slightly delays the original signal while the second branch allows the original signal to travel through unimpeded and without any delay.

FIG. 2B shows how the original signal and the delayed signal fed to an AND gate generate a pulse that is slightly narrower than the original signal. This is because the output of the AND gate will only go high when both inputs become high. This happens when the delayed signal goes from low to high. The AND gate output will go low when any one of the two inputs go low (i.e., when the original signal goes low). This pulse is called an S/H pulse in this example and is used to drive the switch (CD4066) used in the sample-and-hold circuit. When this pulse is high, the switches are closed and the instrument samples the forward drop of the LED when there is only 100 uA going through the LED. When this pulse is low, the switch (CD4066) is off, placing the instrument in the hold mode to hold the voltage from the previously-sampled signal. This signal should be narrower than the pulse shown in FIG. 2C to prevent the sample-and-hold circuit from picking up any noise generated when the MOSFET is turning on or off.

FIG. 2C shows how the original signal and the delayed signal fed to an OR gate generate a pulse that is slightly wider than the original signal. This is because the output of the OR gate will go high when any one of the two inputs become high. This happens when the original signal go from low to high. The OR gate output will go low when both inputs go low that is when the delayed signal go low. This signal is used to drive a power MOSFET switch to bypass the adjustable current source. When this signal is high, the current from the adjustable current source is bypass to ground and the only current go through the LED under test is 100 uA. When this pulse is low, the adjustable current source plus the 100 uA will go through the LED under test and thus heat up the LED. This pulse should be wider than the S/H pulse so the switching transients of the MOSFET do not interfere with the sample and hold circuit.

FIG. 3 illustrates one example of a constant current source in the inventive instrument (100 uA in this example). Block 310 is a voltage divider and IC1 is an operational amplifier connected as a voltage follower. IC1 will have an output that is the same as the input voltage. Block 320 is an inverting summing amplifier with a gain of 1. Block 340 is an inverting amplifier with a gain of 1. The Q1 and Q2 transistors are used here to provide the current gain and isolate the IC3 operational from the switching noise of the MOSFET transistor. The output of this amplifier stage (block 330) is another voltage follower. The current flow through the Rs (10 K) can be calculated as follows: V  2 = (V  1 + V  5) V  3 = V  2 = (V  1 + V  5) V  4 = V  5 $I = {\frac{{V\quad 3} - {V\quad 4}}{10K} = {\frac{\left( {{V\quad 1} + {V\quad 5}} \right) - {V4}}{10K} = {\frac{\left( {{V\quad 1} + {V\quad 4}} \right) - {V\quad 4}}{10K} = \frac{V\quad 1}{10K}}}}$ Since V1=1 $I = {\frac{1}{10K} = {100u\quad A}}$

FIG. 4 illustrates the adjustable current source 400 in more detail. In this embodiment, the adjustable current source 400 is adjustable in a first range (when the switch in block 440 is at position 1) from 0 to 500 mA and in a second range (when the switch is in position 2) from 0 to 50 mA. Block 410 is a voltage divider using a 10 K potentiometer. IC1 is an operational amplifier connected as a voltage follower. and therefore the output of IC1 will be the same as the input voltage. Block 420 is an inverting summing amplifier with a gain of 1 and contains an operational amplifier IC2 and three 10 K resistors. Block 440 is an inverting amplifier with a gain of 1. The Q1 and Q2 transistors are used here to provide the current gain and isolate the IC3 operational amplifier from the switching noise of the MOSFET transistor. The output of this amplifier stage (block 430) is another voltage follower. The current flow through the Rs can be calculated as follows: V  2 = −(V  1 + V  5) V  3 = −V  2 = (V  1 + V  5) V  4 = V  5 $I = {\frac{{V\quad 3} - {V\quad 4}}{RS} = {\frac{\left( {{V\quad 1} + {V\quad 5} - {V\quad 4}} \right.}{Rs} = {\frac{\left( {{V\quad 1} + {V\quad 4}} \right) - {V\quad 4}}{Rs} = \frac{V\quad 1}{Rs}}}}$ Since V1=0 to 5V At switch position 1, Rs=10. $I = {\frac{V\quad 1}{Rs} = \frac{V\quad 1}{10}}$ The current I=0 to 500 mA. At switch position 2, Rs=100. $I = {\frac{V\quad 1}{Rs} = \frac{V\quad 1}{100}}$ The current I=0 to 50 mA.

FIG. 5 illustrates the final stage of the signal processing. Block 510 comprises IC1 connected as a voltage follower to buffer the voltage drop information of the test LED. Block 520 is a constant current source of 100 uA and buffer for the reference LED. At operational amplifier IC3, the output is a negative voltage equal to the reference LED forward drop at 100 uA. Block 530 is used to zero the difference in the forward drop between the reference LED and the LED under test and comprises a 10 K potentiometer and a voltage follower IC3. Block 540 is the sample and hold stage. IC2 is connected as a voltage follower so when CD4066 switch is open, the charge that is trapped in the capacitor cannot discharge. This circuit is used to sample the forward drop of the LED under test when the MOSFET bypasses the large drive current and only 100 uA drive current is sent through the LED. The CD4066 switch is controlled by the S/H signal from FIG. 2A. Since the drive signal bypassing the large current is wider than the S/H signal, the entire transient has been passed or yet to happen when the sampling is done. The output of this stage is the forward drop change of the LED under test. Block 550 is the post amplifier that allows zeroing out of the difference the forward drop between the reference LED and the LED under test. Also, one stage of adjustable gain amplifier gives a direct reading in ° C. of the temperature rise.

Operational amplifier IC4 is connected as a non-inverting summing amplifier. This stage adds the forward drop of the LED under test, the negative forward drop from the reference LED and a zeroing signal from block 530. When the calibrate/run switch is in a calibration mode, both LEDs will have 100 uA flowing through them. With the fine adjustment of the zero potentiometer, the output to DVM2 will be zero. When the calibrate/run switch is switched to run position, the test LED will have a preset amount of current flow through it and started to heat up and the output from the sample and hold stage will start to drop. The output of IC4 will become negative and the output to DVM2 will start to increase. If the reference LED and the test LED belong to the same family and the test LED has been tested during the calibration cycle, the output of IC5 to DVM2 can read ° C. directly with better than 0.5° C. accuracy.

It should be understood that various alternatives to the embodiments of the invention described herein may be employed in practicing the invention. It is intended that the following claims define the scope of the invention and that the method and apparatus within the scope of these claims and their equivalents be covered thereby. 

1-18. (canceled)
 19. A method for measuring a junction temperature of a test LED, comprising: driving a test LED and a reference LED with a first drive current at a first temperature; linking the first temperature to a first known voltage; raising the junction temperature of the test LED to a second temperature; linking the second temperature to a second known voltage; driving the test LED with a drive current; and measuring a forward drop of the test LED, wherein the forward drop of the test LED is responsive to the first drive current and indicates the junction temperature of the LED based on a linear characteristic obtained from the first and second known voltages corresponding to the first and second temperatures.
 20. The method of claim 19, wherein the step of raising the junction temperature of the test LED comprises placing the test LED in a temperature-controlled environment and raising the temperature of the environment to the second temperature.
 21. The method of claim 19, wherein the driving step comprises driving the test LED with a first drive current from a constant current source and a second drive current from an adjustable current source.
 22. The method of claim 21, further comprising: driving the reference LED with the first drive current when the test LED is driven by the first drive current and the second drive current; and comparing the forward drop of the test LED with a reference forward drop of the reference LED to determine the junction temperature of the test LED.
 23. The method of claim 19, wherein the measuring step comprises: sampling and holding the forward drop of the test LED; and comparing the forward drop of the test LED with a reference forward drop of the reference LED to determine the junction temperature of the test LED. 